Poetryzine magazine presents the selected poems by the American poet Linda M. Crate
Dementor
you can't play
victim
this time
when they say terf
it's not a slur, but who you are;
you are a dementor
don't act as if you
never kissed people with
your vile darkness
trying to rip
out their souls—
nonbinary and trans people
are valid as is their outrage,
I will always defend my
nonbinary and trans
friends against bigots like you;
I guess you don't remember
what it was like being
a depressed single mother
just because you're a rich white woman
doesn't mean your opinion of trans people is valid—
your trauma gives you no excuse
to harm others
so take several seats
maybe you'll learn something.
Too little, too late
you wanted me to be
frail and fragile
as a dying rose,
but i refused and you hated me
for my defiance
even if you claimed to love me
i know it wasn't true;
actions speak louder than words
you treasured punishing me
and you valued your ego
more than you ever did me—
you'll blame me that our relationship
is so bad,
but you'll take no accountability
for how you treated me;
and you will let people crown you a good man—
you offer me all the love you didn't give
me when I was younger now,
but it is too little too late;
where was that kindness when i needed it?
I sought solace beneath the soft
needled pines because trees were the only ones
that would root me in compassion,
and the crows watched over me;
peace flowed when I sat beneath those trees—
I needed tranquility
you only gave me your anger,
I had trauma of my own and instead of healing yours
you used it as a weapon against me;
I don't consider myself your daughter but a daughter
of the wilds.
You can never trust a human
I am not someone you'll ever destroy
because I was overlooked and underestimated
I have a rage and wrath
that will bring you down for every
lifetime
after this one, too,
because I was overlooked and underestimated
for far too long;
I am quiet because I know there is
wisdom in silence
not everything requires a reaction—
I watch people so I know how better to defend
myself against them because I trust no one,
and some may say that's lonely
but I rather be safe than sorry because
humans are the monsters that have hurt me
the most;
you can trust a vampire to be honest
but a human? never.
The villain that never loses
you challenged me,
and you insisted I was a bruiser;
little did you know I was
both
a bruiser and tactician
you provoked the rage
that you once told me
didn't exist
as you laughed
in an attempt to control me—
a wild bird
knows no master,
and you would've been wiser
to keep your distance
from my wrath;
instead you woke the dark feminine in me
and she requires your death for your
disrespect of me & so in this battle of
monsters you will find I am the better villain
because I am the one that never loses.
I am exhausted
you celebrate celebrities,
but not me;
can you really call
me a friend?
I wish you could
support me
even half as
much,
it would make a difference
on the bad days
if you would;
you always like it when
I say check on your strong friends—
you don't get it,
I am the strong friend;
and I am drowning
I have always saved myself
but sometimes I would like for someone
to see me drowning and carry me to
safer shores so I didn't have
to drag my exhausted limbs across
difficult sands—
is it too much to ask my friends to care
about me?
I am exhausted. am exhausted
you celebrate celebrities,
but not me;
can you really call
me a friend?
I wish you could
support me
even half as
much,
it would make a difference
on the bad days
if you would;
you always like it when
I say check on your strong friends—
you don't get it,
I am the strong friend;
and I am drowning
I have always saved myself
but sometimes I would like for someone
to see me drowning and carry me to
safer shores so I didn't have
to drag my exhausted limbs across
difficult sands—
is it too much to ask my friends to care
about me?
I am exhausted.
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